Even as the U.S. economy adds jobs, there are fewer employment prospects for college graduates just starting out, as those armed with a newly minted diploma are facing one of the toughest job markets in a decade, studies show.
“Right now is a really difficult time to find a job,” Cory Stahle, senior economist at Indeed Hiring Lab, told CNBC.
By many measures, the labor market is still relatively strong. The U.S. economy added more jobs than expected in September, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. However, the overall unemployment rate edged up to 4.4%, and for younger workers, ages 16 to 24, unemployment was 10.4% in September.
The current job market “is an enormous challenge for members of Gen Z who are just now entering the labor force,” a report published this week by Oxford Economics says.
Rising youth unemployment could be an “early indicator that the economy is slowing down or maybe even heading towards a recession,” said Anders Humlum, assistant professor of economics at the University of Chicago.
